Under the Cloak
by Daviana Roze
Summary: I've always wondered what really happened under Judge Turpin's cloak the night he called Lucy to his house. So I wrote this story, told by Mrs. Lovett.


Under the Cloak

_There was a barber and his wife_

_And he was beautiful_

_A proper artist with a knife_

_But they transported him for life_

_And he was beautiful_

"Barker, his name was. Benjamin Barker," Mrs. Lovett whispered to the stranger in her living room.

"What was his crime?" the stranger asked, lost in his own memories.

"Foolishness."

_He had this wife, you see_

_Pretty little thing, silly little nit_

_Had her chance for the moon on a string_

_Poor thing_

_Poor thing_

_There was this judge, you see_

_Wanted her like mad_

_Everyday he sent her a flower_

_But did she come down from her tower?  
Sat up there and sobbed by the hour_

_Poor fool_

_But there was worse yet to come, poor thing_

_Well, Beadle calls on her all polite_

_Poor thing_

_Poor thing_

_The judge, he tells her is all contrite_

_He blames himself for her dreadful plight_

_He must come straight to his house tonight_

_Poor thing, poor thing_

_Of course, when she gets there_

_Poor thing, poor thing_

_They're having this ball all in masks_

_There's no one she knows there_

_Poor dear, poor thing_

_She wonders tormented and drinks_

_Poor thing_

_The Judge has repented, she thinks_

_Poor thing_

"_Oh, where is Judge Turpin?" she asks_

_He was there alright_

_Only not so contrite_

_She wasn't no match for such craft you see_

_And everyone thought it so droll_

_They figured she had to be daft you see_

_So all of them stood there and laughed you see_

_Poor soul_

_Poor thing…_

_"_And that's when he raped her," Mrs. Lovett finished.

"NO! Would no one have mercy on her?" the stranger roared.

"So, it is you, Benjamin Barker" Mrs. Lovett mused.

"No, that man is dead. It's Todd now, Sweeney Todd," the stranger finally revealed himself.

"To answer your question, no, no one would have mercy on her. The Judge is too powerful a man around here."

"Where is she now? Where is my Lucy?"

"She poisoned herself. Arsenic, from the apothecary around the corner. I tried to stop her, but she wouldn't listen to me."

Mrs. Lovett led Mr. Todd up to his old home, telling him he could set up shop there.

When she came back down, she was completely lost in her own memories.

_"Nessie, please, help me!" Lucy begged of her friend._

_"What is it, love?"_

_"I don't want it!" Lucy screamed, placing a hand over her gently swelled stomach._

_"You're not...it isn't...Mr. Barker?"_

_"No! It's that bastard Judge! He did this to me!"_

_"We'll take care of this. Come. Does he know?"_

_"No, and I'd prefer it be kept that way."_

_"No problem, dearie."_

"Mr. T, you didn't?"

"He recognized me from the old days. Tried to blackmail me. Half me earnings."

"Oh, well, that's different then. For a moment there, I thought you'd lost your marbles. What should we do about the boy?"

"Send him up."

"Now, now, don't you think one's enough for today?"

"Send him up!"

"Besides, I was thinking of hiring the lad to help me run the shop. You're poor knees aren't what they used to be."

"Alright."

Mrs. Lovett went back downstairs, lost again again in her thoughts.

_"Nessie, it's time." Lucy cried, clutching her stomach._

_"Just let me get the doctor-" Nessie moved for the door._

_"NO! There's not time!"_

_And so Nessie delivered the darling baby boy. She handed him to Lucy, then started to leave. "Wait," Lucy called._

_"What, dearie?"_

_"Take him to the workhouse. Tell them his name is Toby. Tell them I died during the birth and his father is no where to be found, but don't give our names."_

_"Are you sure?"_

_"Yes, he looks to much like the Judge. And everytime I'd look at him, he would remind me of how I was unfaithful to my Benjamin. Go, now, please."_

_So Nessie left, leaving Lucy alone._

_When she returned, all that was left of Lucy was a note._

I'm sorry, my dear friend, but I just can't live without my Benjamin. I'm going to the apothecary around the corner. If Benjamin ever comes back, tell him I love him and that I'm sorry. But I'm begging you, please don't tell him of Toby. It would kill him.

Your dearest friend,

Lucy

_At the bottom of the note was the number of Lucy's bank account. She was giving Nessie her life's saving._

_There was nothing left that Nessie could do._

Seeing Toby again, after all these years, brought the memories flooding back.

She never told Toby that Mr. Todd's wife was his mother, or that Judge Turpin was his father. She never told him that he had a sister.

And she never told anyone, until Mr. Todd showed up again, about what happened that night, under Judge Turpin's cloak.


End file.
